Manchester City’s Phil Foden and Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood have been kicked out of the England squad after they secretly brought girls into the team hotel in Iceland, violating the country’s self-isolation rules.
The youngsters only made their senior international debuts in the 1- 0 win over Iceland on Saturday, September 5, before their violation.
On Monday, September 7, Icelandic newspaper DV released Snapchat videos they obtained from two girls who filmed themselves with the footballers in their hotel room,.
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In an interview with DV, one of the girls in the Snapchat video filmed in the hotel room said: ‘We had no idea about these [Covid-19] rules, they never said we could not take pictures.’
Another girl claimed to have been in a relationship ‘with one of the boys for a few days’, noting: ‘The only thing I can say is that I had been talking to one of them for a few days. I’m not going to say where.’
England coach, Gareth Southgate confirmed this afternoon that both Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden home after breaching the team’s coronavirus guidelines
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Southgate said: “Unfortunately this morning it was brought to my attention that two boys have broken the Covid guidelines in terms of our secure bubble and we had to decide very quickly that they could’t have any interaction with the team or travel to training.
“Given the procedures we have to follow they will have to travel home separately.”
Southgate added: “Nothing has happened in the areas we occupy in the hotel.
“We are still getting to the depths of all the information because this was only brought to my attention a couple of hours before training, so I’m still getting to grips with the detail.
“What is clear is there is a breach of the Covid-19 guidelines. The whole squad have really followed that to the letter. I’m not going into any more details until I’m aware of everything.
“We’ve spent a long time putting the guidelines in place, and the whole squad have followed that to the letter.
“We’ve had four tests in the period we’ve been together, our staff have done an incredible job of keeping it secure and tight, which was so important both to get the games played and also for the safety and security of our team and staff.
“So in that respect we have no alternative but to do what we are doing.”
On the young duo, Southgate continued: “It is a very serious situation and we have treated it that way.
“Obviously they have been naive, we have dealt with it appropriately. I recognise their age but the whole world is dealing with this pandemic.
“These are two boys I don’t know particularly well at the moment so can’t speak in great depth. I have got to try and speak with them later in the appropriate way.
“They have got responsibilities and they have apologised.
“Unfortunately the two boys are going to find themselves in a situation where there’s going to be a lot of judgement of them from afar.
“So it’s not for me to make that more difficult for them. They understand their responsibilities.
“They understand they’ve got this wrong.”
Foden has a two-year-old son and a long-term girlfriend, while United star Greenwood broke up with his model girlfriend back in May.
